Welfare payments, medical cards, disability services: these decisions determine whether households function. The system has internal appeals — and they usually must be used first — but appeals officers and the HSE are themselves public decision-makers bound by law. When the appeal misapplies the legal test, ignores the medical evidence, or the statutory service simply never materialises, judicial review is the backstop.
Judicial review time limits are strict, are sometimes much shorter than three months, and can run from an earlier date than you expect. The courts can refuse late applications even within the stated period if you have not acted promptly. Nothing on this page calculates your deadline. If you believe a decision affecting you may be unlawful, contact a solicitor immediately.
Decisions We Challenge
- Social Welfare Appeals Office decisions: disability allowance, carer’s allowance, invalidity pension and other refusals upheld through legally flawed appeals — wrong test, ignored evidence, refused oral hearings, inadequate reasons. See welfare decisions and judicial review;
- Medical card refusals: particularly where discretionary/hardship entitlement was never genuinely considered;
- Disability Act assessments of need: statutory timeframes breached — compelled by mandamus;
- HSE service decisions: home support, residential placements and scheme decisions made unfairly or irrationally;
- Habitual residence and means decisions resting on errors of law.
Appeal First — Usually
The courts expect the statutory ladder to be climbed: first decision, appeal, sometimes revision. Judicial review targets the top of the ladder — or steps in earlier only where the appeal cannot cure the defect or the delay itself is the wrong. Getting this sequencing right protects both the case and your costs position; getting it wrong can be fatal to either. It is the first thing we map at consultation, alongside the three-month limit running from the decision you want to challenge.
Appeal Refused - or Service Never Delivered?
Bring us the decision letter. We will tell you whether the process was lawful and what can be done about it.
Call 01 5827148